Pitching games are traditionally popular. Many of the known games involve the use of apparatus that must be permanently installed, whereby the game can only be played at a particular place—the game of horse-shoes, for example. The invention is aimed at providing a game apparatus that is portable.
Of the traditional pitching games in which the apparatus can be packed e.g into the trunk of a motor vehicle, many include loose or unattached pieces (including the missiles to be pitched), which can become separated from the rest of the apparatus, and lost. An aim of the present invention is to provide the apparatus in such manner that separation and loss of the loose pieces, though not eliminated as an accidental possibility, is rendered unlikely.
It is an aim of the invention to provide a game apparatus that is portable, and light in weight, overall, such that it can be easily carried, and lifted into and out of a vehicle. Furthermore, the apparatus should be portable in the sense that a person can easily carry all the apparatus in one package; it would be a disadvantage of the apparatus were separated into two or more packages, which might become separated.
Furthermore, it is an aim that it should be possible for a person, simply by casually viewing the package, to check that all the required pieces of the apparatus are present. Furthermore, it is an aim that no carrying-box be required, in that preferably the game apparatus itself serves as a receptacle for keeping the loose pieces together when the apparatus is not in use. Furthermore, it is an aim that the game apparatus be made of materials that can be left out in all weathers.
It is an aim of the invention that the game be a game of skill, in that persons with skill in pitching missiles can expect to win most of the time, and also in that players can improve their skills by practice. The occasional lucky hit means even an unskilled first-time player can be interested in playing the game—but still, the aim is to provide the apparatus in such manner that a lucky hit is the equivalent of pitching skill, not the equivalent of nudging the apparatus.
Pitching games in which the missiles are loose have the disadvantage that the missiles might become separated and lost. (Games in which the missiles are tethered have of course been proposed, but the flight of the missiles in such games is so un-intuitive that the games have not found favour, especially not as outdoor games.) It is recognised that, preferably, all the pieces that are loose should be the same, such that if any one piece is lost the game can still proceed with only slight disadvantage. It is an aim, also, that the loose pieces should be large, in the context that it is harder to lose large pieces than small pieces.
In addition, the invention is aimed generally at providing a game apparatus of a sturdiness and robustness that is in keeping with the intended use, and which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture. Aspects of the apparatus having to do with actually playing the game are described below.